The Great Hambino

I like the part where he justifies the fire sale as being done with a "long-term competitive horizon in mind", but they still think they can compete this year so they're sitting on their most valuable assets, and they addressed their stated need for "right-handed thump" by blowing a third of their apparent free agency budget on a switch-hitting 1B that can neither hit from the right side nor field, and they still don't have a bullpen

The following passage was sent out to season ticket holders this morning. Enjoy Tom's take on the Pohlad family delicacy: the Word Salad As we welcome our limited partners and begin moving the Minnesota Twins forward in new and meaningful ways, I want to speak to you, our fans, directly. The last two years have brought uncertainty, frustration and disappointment. You are the heartbeat of this team, and you deserve a product on the field that reflects your level of passion and commitment to the Twins. You also deserve clarity, consistency, and accountability—especially when expectations are not met. We recognize we need to earn back your trust, and we intend to do so through our actions and our decisions moving forward. As part of this transition, I will assume the role of Principal Owner. My promise to you and all Twins fans is to lead with accountability, strategic curiosity, clarity of vision, and a relentless focus on winning. These values will guide every decision we make as we shape the future of this organization. I want to address the difficult roster decisions made at last year’s trade deadline. They were the result of an honest assessment that our team, as constructed, was not consistently winning at a high enough level. If our aspiration is truly to build a team capable of winning the World Series—not simply contending for a division title—then we must make decisions with a long-term competitive horizon in mind. These changes, while tough, strengthen our foundation and better position us for sustained success. Our top focus is on building a championship-caliber organization. I also recognize that your time at Target Field matters—and enhancing your fan experience will remain a key focus. From the atmosphere in the ballpark, to the service you receive, to the energy we create together, we are committed to making every visit special. Target Field is one of the very best ballparks in baseball because of you, and we intend to make it an even more exceptional place to watch the Twins and gather as a community. In the months ahead, I look forward to sharing more about our direction and listening closely to what you expect from us. Your voice matters, and your passion will continue to shape the standards we hold ourselves to—on and off the field. Thank you for continuing to stand with us—through joys and disappointments, through transition and growth, and now into a future filled with purpose and promise. Our players inspire us, but you give us purpose. Tom Pohlad Executive Chair Minnesota Twins

So are the Dolphins gonna take their medicine and cap hit a la the Broncos with Russell Wilson? Or do they let whomever the new GM and (likely) coach decide if Tua is worth fixing? That's a lot of dead money. And just like with Wilson, the team that picks up Tua could have him for basically nothing if he gets cut. Maybe a team that needs a vet floor stabilizer to pair with their volatile young QB while looking for cap savings anywhere they can get it? Would that be potentially worthwhile?

It would also depend on if you count the mutual option buyout as part of this year or next year. Speaking of technicalities, Carlos Correa will be their third highest-paid player

This deal would clear the debt if it goes through, but it doesn't address any of the reasons that caused the debt to balloon in the first place. Excuse me for not taking victory laps over an arrangement where the only effective change to the decision-making process is putting another Pohlad grandson in charge

This signing makes more sense to me if Larnach isn't around. It would be tough for Bell to spell Clemens at 1B against lefties while also spelling Larnach at DH against lefties For me, the negative feelings about this signing stem from what it represents moreso than the move itself. A move like this represents tripling down on the same fringe-contention middle ground strategy that has failed the last two seasons. This team has no realistic chance of competing without like a dozen coin flips working out in their favor (the odds of winning 12 consecutive coin flips is about 0.02%, BTW) unless some real investment in the roster is made. That clearly isn't coming. But this also confirms that they're not willing to truly rebuild either. So instead of facing the reality that nuking your own bullpen moved your realistic contention window to a period outside the remaining control of Ryan/Lopez and acting accordingly to maximize their returns, they're placing yet another half-hearted bet on a deeply flawed roster that just delays the inevitable and reduces the eventual returns for whenever they do face the reality that we will have yet another uncompetitive September. So it's not about it being too expensive (it isn't) or taking away opportunities from players we need to learn more about at the major league level (at least he isn't a corner outfielder). It's continuing to try to thread an impossible needle. It's a continued inability to honestly assess your own roster. It's choosing the path that is the worst of both worlds

It's also just the realities of roster size. Take out a starting and backup catcher, you have 11 roster slots to cover 7 defensive positions plus a DH. Unless you have good defense up the middle or elite defense in a corner, you're probably going to need to be able to cover multiple positions, especially if there's a platoon or two, in order to put out your best lineup given injuries, slumps, occasional rest, etc

My three year old a couple of weeks ago came up to me out of nowhere the morning before a game and said "The Vikings are gonna lose Dad." She was right

I like referring to that Forbes list. It's more than likely not gospel, but a heck of a lot more reliable than any other comprehensive list I've seen. The number that really sticks out to me for the Twins is the debt/value ratio. At 28% (which, at the $1.5B valuation, suggests about $420M of debt), it's the second-highest in the league other than the Marlins, whose figure is skewed by a super-low franchise valuation. For frame of reference, Cleveland is at 7%, Milwaukee 15%, KC 21%, Pittsburgh 11%. Detroit has nearly identical revenue and franchise valuation figures as the Twins, but debt/value of only 10%. So some way or another, the teams most similar to the Twins have found ways to operate without compiling nearly as much debt. Based on their payroll rankings, I find it very hard to believe that the difference is all, or even mostly due to spending too much on players. I also really find it hard to believe that MLB would allow teams to explicitly borrow against the team to fund other business interests. A more likely scenario would involve the Twins over time funding outside interests indirectly by paying off as little of their debt as they can get away with so that more cash is available for other purposes. Kind of a backdoor way to lever up the team for outside purposes. And at some point in the recent past, they stopped being able to get away with it. I'd be very curious to see how these figures have changed over time.

Makes you wonder what it would take for them to flex the Cowboys out of primetime

I gave it another watch today. Not as funny as I had remembered but still pretty enjoyable. A lot will depend on how much you enjoy the juxtaposition of cheery musical numbers with cartoonishly gory zombie violence. It's (Shaun of the Dead - 20% humor) + (High School Musical - 40% lameness) + Christmas

I did a quick once-over of the first rounds (excluding comp rounds) from the 2015-2019 drafts, figuring that anyone that was going to get to MLB would have probably debuted by now, and I didn't feel like doing more than five years. In that time, 23 picks were labeled a shortstop. By my rough count, 15 of them were eventually moved off of shortstop either in the minors or the majors. And there's some quality players in that group too, including Alex Bregman, Brice Turang, Nico Hoerner, and Bryson Stott (also, some guy named Royce). And that's just the first round, where I'd figure you see more elite talent that's more likely to stick at short than in later rounds. In that same time period, there were a grand total of two players taken with the label of second basemen. There's a decent argument to be made that they should just be labeled infielder or middle infielder for draft purposes. Any hand-wringing over taking too many shortstops is pointless. Anyone with a middle infielder-type profile with the talent to be a high draft pick is very likely the best player on their team at the college or high school level, and shortstop is where amateur coaches put their best (right-handed) players. The same way most outfielders were likely their high school team's center fielder. They're not moving them over to second or third because they might not profile as a shortstop at the major league level

Of course he hits left-handed

For frame of reference, Falvey has pointed to Ty France as an impactful free agency pickup. I'd set my expectations somewhere in that realm

Four of those guys will still be in the bullpen, and unless they go on a somewhat-irresponsible spending spree, at least a couple of them will be counted upon for high-leverage. Averaging just over 4 runs a game is not good. And they're running essentially the same lineup back from the end of last year to start this year. That is absolutely an issue, albeit not the only one.

The 82-win projection to me seems unrealistic, but it's also calculated under unrealistic circumstances; that is, that everyone who was a free agent at the time that projection was calculated will remain a free agent. As teams sign those free agents, their win totals will go up, and because there's a fixed number of 2,430 wins to divvy up between all the teams, those standing in place will go down. It's likely that if they stand pat the rest of the offseason, their Opening Day win projection will be closer to the 75-77 win range. And I still think that's an overly rosy picture of the team. The bullpen will still be atrocious heading into the season. A couple quality additions might bring that up to mediocre, but by no means will it be anything resembling a strength. Bullpens can be rebuilt quickly or cheaply, but not both. All the failed-starter-prospects-turned-quality-relievers they shipped out the door last deadline didn't go through that transformation in the blink of an eye, it took some time for their roles to get sorted out. And if the master plan is to use their surplus of fringey starters to stock the bullpen, then it's beyond wishful to think that this is a competitive season. But they're acting as if it is. The more I think about this, the more I hate it.

I'm also not normally a fan of when High School and Musical get lumped together, but the vibes on this are very different. Closer to Community's parody of that show (also a Christmas gem) It's currently available on Prime

This argument is convincing enough for me to change my mind about Die Hard being a Christmas movie as opposed to an action thriller that happens to take place on or around December 25th. And if Christmas movies need to be PG, then I don't know what to call Bad Santa Or another underrated Christmas gem: Anna and the Apocalypse. On paper, a Scottish zombie apocalypse high school musical comedy doesn't scream "Christmas" but that movie delivers on every level

Until they actually sign someone for more than relative pocket change, I'll believe it when I see it. Could be that they decided now is the time to pretend to compete, could be pressure from MLB/other owners, could be they're gunning for all the participation ribbons Terry Ryan liked to brag about getting for being the runner up on free agents the fans wanted

Love, Actually has grown on me from unwatchable to annual viewing tradition. Its watchability has grown on me over time more than any other Christmas movie. Maybe any other movie, period

I'm including made-for-tv-classics as movies here Must Watch: 1. Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer 2. Bad Santa 3, Grinch (60s tv version) 4. Elf 5. White Christmas (the Bing Crosby one) I Don't Get It 1. It's A Wonderful Life (utterly depressing until like the last five seconds) 2. A Christmas Story (I guess you had to be there) 3. While You Were Sleeping (my wife doesn't even let me make fun of it) 4. Hot Frosty (at least my wife let me make fun of it) 5. No others come to mind, so I'll use this slot to mention that that "Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time" is the worst song ever

I mean, it would certainly explain a lot

#3 pick. And all it took was nuking your bullpen for the duration of your Lopez/Ryan contention window (which you apparently still think is open) while simultaneously reducing fan morale to near-absolute-zero. Yay!

I guess Morse is sick of listening to Falvey's word salad too

If they're really not trading Lopez/Ryan/Buxton, then trading Jeffers makes no sense to me. It seems like each replacement option would either be more expensive or a downgrade from Jeffers. Trying to thread that needle, even if deploying those resources elsewhere, would be getting too cute. Things don't go well when Falvey tries to get cute